Getting rid of all head shots is one step and a necessary one.

I would also like to see the rink widened to Olympic standards.

With the size, speed, and strength of the players today, they look silly playing on such a small surface. They can barely move, except in straight lines. It's like bumper to bumper traffic going 60 miles an hour. There's bound to be some jarring accidents in such a circumstance and players can't avoid it because there is no room. Create more space, give them more ice to skate on; this will place emphasis on the skill of the game, and take away some (certainly not all) of the brain jarring collisions.

For the record, I have no interest in seeing Olympic rinks. The Olympics feature the best players in the world. Anyone who has seen euro hockey involving less skilled players know it's soccer boring.

Is there any chance that Pronger is ok and Dr. Michael Collins of the University of PITTSBURGH Medical Center is just the ultimate homer Pen's fan?

Probably only .00001% but...I imagine some Philly fans will be crying conspiracy.

Pronger is a world class ____. But's he's also a HOF'er and world class player. And it sounds like he's in a very bad place. Wish him the best.

Pronger must be in bad shape for them to say his season is done and we're barely past the 1/3 mark.

It makes you wonder how many undiagnosed concussions players have played through over the years. Head shots may not be "banned" now, but they're certainly monitored far more closely than the era of the big Scott Stevens and Darius Kasparaitis hits that we all cheered for and the NHL made videos of. Honestly, Stevens would be suspended every other week if he played now.

@GenoSid - I would contend that the Pens are better off with that giant traffic cone on the ice.

Olympic rinks would require overhauls of 30 arenas - not likely to be approved due to costs of construction and lost seats (expensive seats, too!) I heard a caller on Madden saying they should play 4v4 for the whole game to open space, which won't happen either because the NHLPA would throw a fit at lost playing time for marginal players. You wouldn't need to dress 20 guys to play 4v4...

It's encouraging to think that at least the players / management are being smarter about concussions and keeping players out. Then again, the Pens let Letang back on the ice in Montreal. Coming back from a vicious hit to score an OT winner is a nice story, but I'd trade the 2 points in a heartbeat if it meant Letang's recovery time was a week or two instead of three weeks and counting.

At this point, it's clear that an outright ban on all head shots (intentional or not) is the only way to reduce these incidents. You'll never be able to eliminate them entirely - the game is too fast, and both Crosby and Giroux's recent injuries were possibly inflicted by teammates. But if you make the punishments strong enough, players will start going out of their way to avoid headshots, rather than "oh well, it's a fast game, couldn't be avoided." Maybe James Harrison will think twice before dropping his helmet into a QB's jaw now that he's missing a game... then again, with him, maybe not.

Maybe the league should consider implementing some sort of rule that says the player who causes the head injury has to sit out the length of time the injured plays is inactive. As it is now, like in the case of Letang, the causee sits out 1-3 games and returns while the other team loses a player indefinately. Not a bad "trade-off".

I fail to see how making the rinks bigger will help anything.

Yes, there will be a little less congestion, but as post-lockout hockey has shown, faster, more open game = more high speed collisions.